Various types of packaging are known in the state of the art for fruit, determining factors of the most appropriate for each given case being the maintenance of optimum physiological conditions of the product, extending its storage, and the suitable presentation to make it attractive to the consumer, always bearing in mind that it must be avoided that the container factor considerably increases the end price of the product.
Different groups can be made within said containers, such as, for example, among those for transport and bulk sale, within which would be the well-known corrugated cardboard or wooden boxes, those for retail sale, such as trays, bags and sacks, generally of plastic material, and those designed for products that require special storage conditions such as multi-layered bags of selective permeability for vacuum-packaging and storage at low temperatures.
Within said groups of containers, the most suitable for high added value products, i.e. those sought out by gourmet-type consumers, are those of retail sale such as moulded pulp or polystyrene tray, plastic bags or mesh bags.
Said type of consumers increasingly value the appropriate presentation and quality of the end product, there also being a trend to look for products which have undergone minimal handling from their harvesting in the field to their acquisition by the end user at the point-of-sale.
The current containers do not offer the possibility of an individualized treatment of the pieces of fruit, giving rise to rubbing between them which will cause deteriorations, nor do they allow optimum refrigeration, nor a good presentation, nor the creation of a modified microclimate which guarantees the suitable conditions for storage of the fruit.